soundtrack thread

I totally have to say the same thing. I think soundtracks and scores are underrated.

I personally do like Steve Jablonsky as a composer. He did the Transformers Scores and The Island (others too). I really like the way he combines the orchestra with some electronic sounds . My favorite tracks by him "Bumblebee" and "Optimus vs. Megatron". I do have to say that I also enjoy the movie. The second one is really bad, like the Score too.

Other soundtracks I like are the complete recordings for the Lord of the Rings, which I think is a marvelous piece. It is although quite difficult to listen to it, like I mentioned it in another thread. (did the whole listening of exactly 9.9 hours only once and it is just impressive how the music develops, but extremely exhaustive too)

More composers I can think of right now are:

- James Horner with Avatar (favorite songs "The Bioluminescence Of The Night" and "Becoming One Of "The People" / Becoming One With Neytiri")

- Atticus Ross with The Book of Eli (favorite song "Panoramic")

- Clint Mansell with The Fountain (excellent movie by the way) (favorite song "Death is the Road to Awe)

- How to train your Dragon by John Powell (favorite song "Forbidden Friendship")

There are many more in my library, but I have to look up ;)

I am a HUGE soundtracks fan!

 The Incredibles by 

Michael Giacchino is a great mix of soundtrack/jazz.

Just finished watching Searching for Bobby Fisher, and really liked the soundtrack (Horner).

The Avatar score was an abomination that should have never seen the light of day.  It was a train wreck that never stopped.  Way too "cartoony", and absolutely no soul.  It was absolutely horrific.  It's not even worth the $9 on Amazon.  

However, the Transformers 1 score is THE PERFECT movie score.  And up until a week ago, I considered it to be the perfect music.  Transformers 1 is played with such passion that it's impossible not to feel emotion.  Also, Jablonsky's brilliant way of combing electric and orchestra is completely mind blowing.  Don't bother with the Transformers 2 score, though.  Jablonsky dropped the ball with that one.  

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hickeydog 

The Avatar score was an abomination that should have never seen the light of day.  It was a train wreck that never stopped.  Way too "cartoony", and absolutely no soul.  It was absolutely horrific.  It's not even worth the $9 on Amazon.  

 

However, the Transformers 1 score is THE PERFECT movie score.  And up until a week ago, I considered it to be the perfect music.  Transformers 1 is played with such passion that it's impossible not to feel emotion.  Also, Jablonsky's brilliant way of combing electric and orchestra is completely mind blowing.  Don't bother with the Transformers 2 score, though.  Jablonsky dropped the ball with that one.  

Actually I found it not that bad. The only thing that really annoys me is the overall volume of the CD...it is so low.

As I said before, I juste can agree on the Transformers description. If you're that interested in it, do you own the CD ?

By the way another composer or group which doesn't produce soundtracks or scores but trailer music, is Two Steps From Hell !

Just mind blowing and emotional music ! You can feel the tense in every single track, simply incredible. What is though annoying, is that they do not sell CD's. You only can buy them via download on a not perfect quality IMHO.

Angels of the Universe (in Icelandic: "englar alheimsins"), just like most things from Iceland, it's really good.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Wildstar 

Quote:

Originally Posted by AbeSapien 

The only thing that really annoys me is the overall volume of the CD...it is so low.

Oh no no no... The heresy!
The reason why "it is so low" is because it actually has good dynamic range. It is low when it is supposed to be low, and high when it is supposed to be high (as opposed to most CDs that are always high -- google "loudness war"). Try the taiko in track 2, 4:00. Drives my HD595 to their excursion limit...
 

Indeed! I remember long ago when I got Madonna's Ray of Light CD, I was just the same: "Why is the volume so low?!" But now it's one of my favorite albums to demo.

This is one reason why I like the music of scores in general because their mastering is better than most other commercial music. This includes score albums with accompanying tracks that do have vocals (like a lot of Disney soundtracks).

Quote:

Originally Posted by pooklio 

yea but sometimes it gets a little odd when they soemtimes mix the movie sounds in with the track. i know that the fifth element soundtrack (another aesome one) uses some of the soundeffects since in a way tfe did music synching with the scene so well but when ur just listieng to it alone it looks out of place. just my opinion.

 

i really think movie soundtracks are today's contemporary clasical music. ppl are upset that classical music in that way is over comercialized

 

but guess what? clasical music in the old days were acompanyign opera and theatrics just like it is now. and back then sometimes u were doing stuff for thek ing and that in a way is seling out. lol.

I agree with the movie sound clips; hate it with a passion. If we want to listen to the movie, we'll watch the movie, right?! Sweeney Todd and the second Gladiator score are other examples of this travesty. Good point about scores being today's classical music. Heck, there were movie posters in my music appreciation class textbook; I was flipping through and saw Star Wars and Spiderman, which had me scratching my head at first.

I very much enjoyed the Social Network OST with Atticus Ross and Trent Reznor. I couldn't hear the Tron OST with Daft Punk enough. Inception OST stood out to me as well.

Quote:

Originally Posted by pooklio 

yea but sometimes it gets a little odd when they soemtimes mix the movie sounds in with the track. i know that the fifth element soundtrack (another aesome one) uses some of the soundeffects since in a way tfe did music synching with the scene so well but when ur just listieng to it alone it looks out of place. just my opinion.

 

i really think movie soundtracks are today's contemporary clasical music. ppl are upset that classical music in that way is over comercialized

 

but guess what? clasical music in the old days were acompanyign opera and theatrics just like it is now. and back then sometimes u were doing stuff for thek ing and that in a way is seling out. lol.

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikenike 

 

 

I agree with the movie sound clips; hate it with a passion. If we want to listen to the movie, we'll watch the movie, right?! Sweeney Todd and the second Gladiator score are other examples of this travesty. Good point about scores being today's classical music. Heck, there were movie posters in my music appreciation class textbook; I was flipping through and saw Star Wars and Spiderman, which had me scratching my head at first.

I hate that too.  The only exception is Roy Batty's speech in the Blade Runner soundtrack.  Hard to believe Rutger Hauer just made it up on the spot.

bat: there are more exceptions, but it's rare. The clips (like yours) has to be integral to the music, or worked into the music really well. Like the Swordfish soundtrack. The clips aren't important, but Oakenfold knows how to make it work. I do know one case where it was a missed opportunity, which was on the Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban soundtrack, track "Mischief Managed!" They definitely should have kept the titular phrase as in the credits of the movie, spoken by Daniel.

Anyway, any of you listened to the Drag Me to Hell soundtrack by Christopher Young? It is incredibly and perhaps unforgivingly dynamic. It's so much fun to listen to if you're a horror soundtrack fan. Try listening to it alone in the dark. Young uses everything to scare you, from sudden bursts of loudness, to skin crawling strings and ominous brass, to frightening choir vocals. I love putting it on my friend's iPhone; he'll have his "Recently Added" playlist playing, and out of nowhere, the soundtrack comes on, which he really hates (doesn't like horror).